Reattachment of soft tissue to bone employing knotless fixation devices are known in the art, particularly for the formation of double row constructs in arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs. For example, the SpeedBridge™ double row technique, developed by Arthrex, Inc., uses threaded swivel anchors (such as disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0004659, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety) combined with FiberTape® to create a quick and secure SutureBridge™ construct, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,419,794 (herein incorporated by reference) with no knots and only two suture passing steps.
In the SpeedBridge™ technique, a swivel anchor, preferably an Arthrex 4.75 mm SwiveLock® C, loaded with one strand of FiberTape®, is inserted into a medial bone socket. A FiberLink™ and Scorpion™ is used to shuttle both FiberTape® tails through the rotator cuff simultaneously. Next, one FiberTape® tail from each medial anchor is retrieved and loaded through the SwiveLock® C eyelet. The loaded eyelet is inserted into a prepared lateral bone socket until the anchor body contacts bone, and the tension is adjusted if necessary. The SwiveLock® C driver is rotated in a clockwise direction to complete the insertion. Using an open ended FiberWire® cutter, the FiberTape® tails are cut, one and a time, to complete the technique.
In the above-described SpeedBridge™ technique, it can be difficult to tension the sutures or the FiberTape® tails through the rotator cuff, except by deeper insertion of lateral anchors. Accordingly, there is a need for a multi-anchor tissue repair without the need for tying knots but still with the ability to tension the tissue properly, especially after implantation of the anchors. Also needed is an improved technology for knotless fixation of the rotator cuff with easier suture management and increased tensioning of the rotator cuff.